Fear - Michael Grant

So, my first review, eh?

** Possible spoilers for Gone, Hunger, Lies and Plague**

My Summary of Events - It's been a year since the adults disappeared (the events of Gone), and due to the big split in Plague, Caine is "King" of Perdido Beach (more on my opinion of that later), whilst Sam is being Sam up at Lake Tramonto. To add the the kid's problems, the barrier's going black and soon there'll be no light except for the Sammy Suns. Secrets come out, and for the first time since Lies we see what's going on on the outside of the FAYZ. The twist at the end is one I wasn't expecting (OK, there's two twists, one I was expecting because I read a spoiler on the Internet, the other basically made me pull this face: :O), and I'm normally pretty good at working out what'll happen.

The Title: This might be a long one. There's a kinda debate going on about whether this book should be called Fear, or if the original title of Darkness should have been kept. I am firmly in the Fear camp. All of the books have been focusing on what the kid's are currently having the most problems with. In Gone, all the adults have vanished. In Hunger, they're all starving, and so on. For me, fear is the big one in this book. Sure, the barrier's going dark, but they're all scared about what'll happen. Sam's scared of the dark. Astrid's scared of Drake. Drake's scared of Brianna. Everyone's scared of Penny. Diana's scared of her own child. The barrier, for me, actually takes a back seat. So I think the title's perfect.

Cover - I like it. It fits with the others, it's bright and it fits with the title. The only little niggle I have it the "more thrilling than the Hunger Games" sticker. I really don't like it when a book, film, artist, whatever rides on the tails of another's fame. This series is good enough in it's own right, and except for the kids & dystopia, in my opinion it's not that similar to the Hunger Games anyway.

My Favourite Character - Edilio. I've always loved this guy, and he really comes into his own in Fear.

My Least Character - Either Albert or Penny. Albert's a foul, evil, loathsome little cockroach in Fear. Penny's just evil, pure evil.

What I liked - I liked the character development. Each character's personality is getting more and more distinct, and they keep changing. My opinion of character's is never constant.
- The emotion. I felt sorry for Caine, like actually full on sorry for him. I wanted to tear Penny's throat out. By the end, I wanted to throw my book at the wall.

What I didn't like - It seemed a tad filler-ish. Not all that much really happened, it was more of a revealer book than a questioner. Don't get me wrong, I still loved it. I just found myself wishing for something more from it occasionally.
- Diana's pregnancy arc. It reminded me of something, don't know what *rolls eyes*.

**SPOILER FOR FEAR**

Renesmée Cullen anyone? Baby could kill mother at any time. Baby grows fast. Baby has power. Michael-Grant-You-Will-Give-Stephenie-Meyer-Her-Crazy-Pills-Back.

**END FEAR SPOILER**

- Astrid. After Plague, I cannot bring myself to like that girl.
- Caine demanding to be called "Your Highness". If he's a King, he should be addressed as "Your Majesty." I can't believe this slipped under the net. And my goodness, it bugged me more than it should.

Recommend? - Yes. It's not as good as the others, and my favourite is still Plague, but it's a good solid novel and I can't wait for Light, due out in April next year.



**This book was purchased by me, with my own money, and all views are my own.**